Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Jeannine Hammett, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation’s Washington, D.C., Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Henry E. Hudson.

Brandveen was indicted on June 7, 2011 and today pled guilty to one count of tax evasion. Brandveen faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when she is sentenced on November 18, 2011.

In a statement of facts filed with her plea agreement, Brandveen admitted being the owner of Healthcare Solutions Medical Supply, LLC, which sold durable medical equipment and provided home health services. Brandveen directed the withholding of federal employment taxes from the paychecks of that business’s employees, but regularly and systematically failed to pay those taxes over to the IRS, instead using those funds for other business ventures and personal expenses.

When the IRS undertook collection efforts, Brandveen ceased operation of that business and abandoned its bank accounts. She then created a new business, Healthcare Solutions Service Corporation, a virtually identical business performing largely the same functions from the same location with the same employees. That business also failed to pay over employees’ withheld employment taxes to the IRS, again using them for Brandveen’s other business ventures and personal expenses. When the IRS undertook to hold Brandveen personally responsible for the failure to pay the employment taxes, she misled the IRS by falsely asserting that a relative was actually the party responsible for paying those taxes.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant United States Attorney Michael C. Moore is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.